New Chances
by Kathryn Claire O'Connor
Summary: #3 in the New Life series! Hunter and Bobbi fall from the bus into the Nez Perce National Forest, and two weeks alone with a broken ankle and a mothering ex-wife have started to make him remember why he ever loved her by the time the two of them are picked up.


**Geez, this one is short - but I kinda figured it was going to be; Bobbi did warn you guys about that in "New Risks"... And I have the sex in the SUV happen the week before this, when technically it didn't happen until _after _the episode that is this series' kicking off point. Anyway, enjoy! And if you wouldn't mind telling me how you think I wrote the characters, that would be great since it's my first time attempting to write Hunter or Bobbi. Thanks! **

* * *

_Phil eyed Fury frankly across the lounge, finishing up his tale with a simple, "And that really is all that there is to it. Nothing flashy for Melinda and I. Life happened, we were married, and then Shang was born six months later."_

_Fury took a deep breath, staring Phil down for a long moment until the former director looked away – towards Hunter and Bobbi as he said, pointing at Alec, "Fine, Coulson, it's you're agency now anyway – but that still doesn't explain the existence of that one."_

_"'That one'" Bobbi bit out. "Is named Alec… and there's a pretty simple story behind him too."_

_"I think it's pretty interesting!" Hunter objected as if he'd taken offense to his wife's words._

_Fury glared with his one good eye, stating, "Well then, I've still got plenty of time; let's hear it."_

Bobbi was still openly glaring at the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D., so Hunter sighed and took it upon himself to begin speaking. "Well, when I realized that we were going to fall, I grabbed for Bobbi – old instincts and all that – which is how we managed to end up together when we landed."

"How did you even manage to land _alive_?" Fury asked suddenly. "Let alone every one of you?"

"The problem we were having with the bus is what saved their lives, ironically," May spoke up. "We were having trouble keeping airborne, so we were dangerously low flight-wise, but _helpfully _low for those that fell out."

Fury nodded and turned expectantly back to Hunter, demanding, "Continue."

"Well, like I said, Bob and I landed together – in the Nez Perce National Forest in Idaho County, as it turned out…"

* * *

_Well, that hurt,_ Hunter thought, trying to shift slowly onto his feet on the damp ground and nearly screaming with the wave of pain the movement brought.

That's when he registered that something was weighting him down. _What…?_

"Are you okay?"

Though he was keeping his eyes firmly closed, he recognized Bobbi's voice and felt the weight scramble off of him. Great, she'd landed on top of him when they'd fallen from the bus.

"_Hunter_. What's wrong?" Bobbi asked, an edge coming into her voice as she grabbed his wrist and checked for a pulse.

He groaned lightly and jerked his wrist out of her grip, keeping his eyes closed as he informed her tartly, "Besides the fat that we just fell off of the bloody bus, something's broken – my ankle, I think."

"Did I cause that?" she muttered more to herself then him.

He couldn't help rolling his eyes underneath his eyelids – it probably really was time for him to open them now – as he said, "Shut up, Bob; the _fall from a plane_ and numerous branches we hit coming down probably had something to do with it." He forced his eyes open then and scanned her where she was kneeling beside him, asking, "What about you?"

"Bruised and cut up, but I'm fine; you're the one we've got to worry about."

"Shove off, hell beast," he muttered. "I'm fine." And he tried again to get to his feet so that he could prove it.

"Lance Hunter, I swear if you move one more time, I will tie you down and make you watch while I destroy your precious knife collection."

"You wouldn't destroy them; you'd steal them. You did want them in the divorce, after all." She rolled her eyes and shoved to her feet. Hunter grit his teeth and forced away the dizziness he was feeling because of the pain, saying, "You really don't have to take care of me or something stupid like that. Just help me stand up. I can take the rest from there and take care of myself. We need to find a way to get word to Coulson."

"Yes, I do need to take care of you," she argued. "Because, no, I will not help you stand or walk or whatever and hurt yourself further! It's not going to happen. It may take a little bit of time, but Coulson will find us on his own, and until then, you are my top priority."

"Oh, you never babied me before; don't start babying me now!" he howled.

Bobbi bit out, "Deal with it. Don't move; I'm going to go walk around and try to figure out where we are."

He mimicked her sourly under his breath as he watched her walk away – " Deal with it! Don't move!" – but he knew better than to disobey, especially when Bobbi was in a mood like this and he had only limited mobility.

So he chose to listen to her instead. He listened to her when she told him to stay put and let her "'mother' if she wanted to, you infuriating man!" But as time went on, it was more than just that. In the long run, his immobility became something of a blessing in disguise because it forced them to stay relatively in one spot and made Bobbi feel like she had to stay with him. It actually turned her into… not a demonic hell beast… and almost made her… soft. And after a few days together the constant close proximity started messing with his head too.

Maybe it was the fact that they were just so _alone _together out here. Maybe it was their shared history. Maybe it was that sex-in-the-SUV thing that had happened the week before. Maybe it was all of it combined. But he and Bobbi spent most of their time doing the one thing they both detested – waiting, waiting for Coulson to find them, because they really had no other options

While they waited, they talked – a lot– and – for the first time, he began to realize – they _listened to one another._

Communication had been the main problem in their marriage, but for those two weeks in the forest, they had communication in _spades_ and something began to happen that went beyond the physical attraction that had long drawn them towards one another and been the only strong point in their marriage.

The fact that they spent every night curled around one another – purely for warmth's sake of course – didn't hurt anything, but after twelve days in the forest, Hunter was slowly coming to the conclusion that her body wasn't the only thing that drew him to Bobbi anymore.

He liked her laugh. He liked the way her eyes lit up when she talked about something that she felt strongly about. He liked that she felt strongly about _everything _that she had an opinion about – and she had an opinion on everything. He liked that she _never _did anything halfway, and that even after everything she'd been through, she still believed that good would _always _triumph over evil in the end. He liked that she wasn't afraid to be as blunt and as vicious as the devil… or as gentle as an angel when she thought the situation called for it.

It was in the middle of the night when he was wide awake – pain could cause real insomnia issues – with Bobbi's head on his chest, her arms wrapped around his waist in sleep as he stared up at the stars that he realized something that shocked him down to the core. It wasn't just that he liked those things about Bobbi; he _loved _them – and he loved her. He'd fallen in _love_ – not just attraction – with her!

Well then.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, kissing her on the top of her head while she slept and saying, "Well, that needs to be a discussion."

* * *

And he made sure that it was a conversation they had – terrified though he was of the possible negative outcome – the very next morning. When he woke, Bobbi had disappeared as she did every so often to see if she couldn't forage some food from somewhere, so he had his thoughts all nice and planned out when she came back with her jacket playing basket to a bunch of blackberries.

She sat down beside him and they ate for a second in silence while he tried to decide where to start.

Despite his pre-prepared words, all that slipped out was a rushed, "I love you, Bobbi."

She froze for all of a split second before she met his gaze, her own eyes sparkling to match her beautiful smile as she said, simply, "I know." There was a pause before she said, "I love you too," and then another beat passed while she debated the words in her mind before they came out her mouth. "I don't think we ever really stopped, did we?"

Scraping his thoughts together proved to be horribly difficult, and it took Hunter a few seconds before he admitted, "No, I guess not – but we'll make it work better this time… if you're willing to try a 'this time', that is."

"Of course," Bobbi said, her tone and smile making this conversation seem like the simple one she'd ever been in. "As long as you think you can try taking another chance on a 'demonic hell beast'."

* * *

"And that was that," Hunter finished with an air of finality. "Nothing flashy, just getting back with your ex in the middle of a forest."

"And it's a good thing that it was nothing more, too," Bobbi added. "Considering that we were brought back onto the bus the next day… and we found out that we were expecting Alec not long after that."

Fury just rolled his good eye heavenward, admitting, "It's not like I expected much better then sex in a SUV out of you two." A new thought seemed to occur to him as he slowly turned to face Fitz, saying, "But I did expect better than this from you."

Fitz snorted, declaring, "Then you'll be disappointed to know that what happened between Skye and I included more time in a vehicle than Hunter and Bobbi's little tale ever did."

Fury raised his eyebrows questioningly, drawling, "Do tell."


End file.
